SC delivers split verdict on post Babri Masjid riots "killers"

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court gave a split verdict on confirming the convictions against five persons in connection with a murder during communal riots after the demolition of Babri Masjid.

In view of the differences of opinion between Justices S B Sinha and H S Bedi, the matter has now been placed before the Chief Justice of India for referring the case to larger bench.

Though Justice S B Sinha ordered the acquittal of the five convicted persons, Justice H S Bedi while accusing the country's police machinery of being "anti-minority" has confirmed the life imprisonment imposed on the accused Harendra Sarkar and four others.

The accused had earlier been convicted by a trial court for allegedly committing the murder of Sahera Khatoon and her two minor daughters Bimala Khatoon (3) and Hazra Khatoon(7) at Changmazi Pathar village in Assam's Daboka district on December 14, 1992, a week after the Babri Masjid demoliton.

In an unusually scathing attack on the present state of investigations being conducted by police in communal incidents, Justice Bedi accused the police machinery of adopting an "anti-minority bias."

"It is indeed tragic that though reams of paper have been used and dozens of suggestions made as to the methods to prevent or to control communal riots, yet as the cancer continues to metastasize on account of several factors," Justice Bedi observed in his dissenting judgement.